Home made Bread

I am total fan of home made buns!! I remember mom making these for us when we were kids...........the lovely aroma of the fresh yeast and the baking..........is so very nostalgic!!! I wanted my kids to have similar memories :) So off I started on my quest for the perfect bread recipe! And I found it at my favorite place................the Travel & Living channel!!! Rachel Allen - Bake :) Lovely show with some great recipes and tips on baking!

Well, the recipe I perfected is:

Ingredients:

Flour (maida) - 250 gms

Yeast - 10gms (dried yeast) or 2ogms (fresh yeast)

Warm Water - 100ml

Olive oil - 4 tbsp

Salt - 1 tsp

Sugar - 3 tsp

Cinnamon powder - 1 tsp (optional - I am a die hard fan of cinnnamon, so that's why it is featuring here. You can omit it if you do not want it)

Method:

1. Mix the salt and cinnamon powder (optional) into the flour. This has to be done before adding the yeast, as direct contact with salt will kill the yeast.
2. Add sugar to the warm water (not hot, just lukewarm), mix well. Add the yeast to this mixture and wait for a few mins till you see the yeast bubbling on the water surface.
3. Add the olive oil to this yeast mixture and mix well. Add this emulsion the the flour and knead to a soft dough.
4. The dough initially will be very sticky. Keep kneading with a good amount of force and add a spoonful of flour if required. By the end of 5-6 mins, the flour should be well kneaded and soft and fluffy.
5. Grease a deep bowl, place this dough in the bowl. Cover the bowl and keep in a warm place for around 2 hours.
6. After 2 hours, the dough would have fluffed to twice its size. Punch the dough into the bowl and knead well again. Make into desired shapes and keep aside for another 30 mins.
7. Bake these at 175 degrees centigrade for around 10 mins.

Delicious, fluffy buns ready!!!!